Fire and Ice - Robert Frost
Fire and Ice - Robert Frost
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
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The poem’s epic scale—the elements, the world’s end twice—is made all the more epic by the final word, “suffice,” which underscores the world’s frailty; that ice would be simply enough to do it in; yet also, in clear understatement, affirms the strength of ice.